standing by for capture. the most innovative software on the planet... dragon is captured. is connecting today's leading companies to places beyond it. siens. answers. >> here it is, the highlight reel. roll it. >> utility cancellation of the easter role was bad, what about votinfunding for u.s. marines ct $47 million. >> the faa is getting more money after the sequester cuts after last year. >> $2.7 million to study why lesbians are a highe at higher r hazardous drinking. >> windows to research stop and say we have the information, stop it. charles: just another excuse to spend money. charles: again, that is the central theme.

everybody should see this on the business side, foxbusiness.com, all the money spent on public servants, wasted money spent in the financial crisis and the only thing is higher taxes. >> there is an oversight of spending tax dollars, we have known that for a while. with the story with school superintendent, national average 162,000 to be a school superintendent but some of these guys are running half a dozen schools, less than a million students, some of them are making 200,000 or more. it is amazing there is no transparency, little oversight for the public servants will scream about the private sector. look to your own backyard. charles: the same ideology that argues about corporate salaries uses that as an excuse to bump up their own salaries. digging a

were using to bump up your salaries? connell: thank you, charles, appreciate it. dagen: i am taken mcdonnell. connell: i am connell mcshane. thank you for joining us and this is what is keeping washington up at night. preventing a budget deal from happening. dagen: a big day for bernanke and company. is it time for the central bank to pull back on the bond buying? connell: and the taiwan factory making the recall for lulu lemon pants is firing back at the company hitting the plane there. connell: see-through bathing suits were problem a year ago, how about that? and employees are told to get their waste check or pay hundreds of dollars more in health care costs. the judge is here to weigh in.

pun intended. those and much more coming up on "markets now." connell: all over a bunch of stories, the stock market hit an intraday all-time high today. and a big interview worth sticking around for later on. mark burnett, the miniseries called "the bible" on the history channel has had a ton of buzz but not controversy surrounding it, depicting satan, people say looks like president obama. mark burnett will be with us on the studio later on. dagen: we will be all over him. we're all over stocks now and every 15 minutes. nicole petallides with a look at the market and the new intraday high hit moments ago. nicole: a lot to be excited about. mark burnett coming on, i look forward to that interview. if you want the upward trend to keep on rolling, you have got it. up 75 points on the dow jones

industrial. the nasdaq and the s&p gaining about half a percent. we are going to be hearing from the fed later in the day, very accommodative fed so far. interesting to see the market running the way they are, given we have some uncertainty in cyprus and uncertainty in europe. the dollar is weaker today, seeing the market jumping in at all-time intraday highs 14,545, back to you. dagen: we dig it, thank you. connell: trying to reach some sort of a compromise before the deadline march 27 to avoid having a government shutdown. dagen: rich edson with the latest. rich: a number of different budget pieces coming into play on capitol hill. congress has to pass a spending measure a week from today.

if they don't do that, the government shuts down. we can expect perhaps maybe by this evening the senate will do that and send that back over to the house. congress is set to go to congress next week so they have to get this done to avoid the government shutdown. the house has a budget, the senate has one, the fiscal year starts on october 1 to the ideas the house and senate will pass their budget in the next coming weeks and perhaps in the next coming years we could actually have a budget conference. negotiating one entire budget for the federal government was still working on the same old partisan divide. >> we are all concerned about the impact of the budget cuts. they are senseless and they are ridiculous, we should do away with them. >> the plan we're seeing from the democratic leadership is a failed plan for america. it does not alter the debt

course for america, no growth component to it. it spends more and taxes more. it strengthens the government, the bureaucracy and weakens the private sector. rich: they balance the budget within the next 10 years, raises no taxes. the democrats budget in the senate raises taxes by about $8 trillion. they say good luck coming up with one budget. connell: rich edson on capitol hill. dagen: know who is up to the challenge? former president of american action form. good to see you, where is there a compromise between the democrats and the republican budget now? >> there is not much. this is a sharp divide. republicans with a budget that cuts the debt, does tax reform for growth, and over in the senate side you have a budget

that spends more taxes, raises more debt. there is not a lot of overlap there. there's a chance to white house getting serious about this, they could find a middle ground and do some important things in tax reform, do important things on fixing the social sentiment, the medicare, medicaid. connell: i wonder if that'll happen because it seems like everyday urgency we have around this issue has gone away to some extent. we lead our show today with the stock market at an all-time high, intraday high. rich said the same old story in d.c., a lot of people are ignoring washington almost thinking it doesn't matter what these guys do anymore. is that dangerous? >> a good thing would be not to pay attention to washington. but i do think it is dangerous and i think it wil it'll be bace headlines. the hidden players or the rating agencies that give u.s. saying they have big problems, this is

very little to fix the problems. at some point they will make good on their warnings. they have warned the u.s. to do something or else. when or else shows up tonight will be back on the industry. dagen: look at where they are now, federal reserve buying bonds every month keeping long-term interest rates low, people at home get a great mortgage, a great car loan, what do they care? >> i would hope americans don't have to care, but i would think if the rating agencies are serious they say it is aaa to double-a. that happens u.s. treasuries are no longer good backing for construction projects. we have descended to the status it is not easily recoverable. that is not something you want to risk. we should want to do this anyway. seniors deserve a good program.

it is not always about the money. connell: wow. let's talk about the fed. dagen: republicans worst nightmare, tax reform done by the democrats really don't get rid of the tax rates, we don't lower rates, they get rid of some of the deductions and we wind up a lot of people paying higher taxes. dagen: the true definition is broad enough base, lower the rates. you have to avoid that. connell: don't think we're moree optimistic than we were before, but good to see you. dagen: good to see you, my man. connell: we said we would talk about the fed, less than three hours from the federal reserve notes and whether or not it continues stimulating the economy at the current levels, keeps propping things up.

why don't you just pick up from where we left off because talking about washington related to the bigger picture scenario not assist early today but the role the federal reserve plays in all of this as long as interest rates stay as low as they are, what do you think? >> the fed plays a big role keeping interest rates low. i heard on the fiscal side, you're right, maybe outside of the beltway the washington fatigue, but returned to the fed, everyday to indicate the fed keeps the pedal to the metal, 85 billion per month, there'll be some talk about scaling it back later this year. the thing to watch is the fed forecast. all the members put in the economic forecast for the next three years. my guess is it'll be a little bit more promising for social

and employment rate above 6.5% until 2015 and that is the threshold, they will not move interest rates up before your employment rate gets to that level, that is still at least two years from now. connell: the reason people say why are these stories related to each other, as long as the current environment exists as it does come interest rates as low as they are, there's really no incentive for washington to get back together and fix the fiscal situation because they are not forced to. so you say they will be by when, 2015, middle of the year? it'll be a while, in other words. dagen: it will be a while, but the good news is the budget deficit is actually declining. suggesting a decline for the next three years, so there's a little bit of time in washington

to get it right. it is not as imminent, you have not done sequestration, but it is still the fed, all about the fed. what the market will be focused on is not so much when they will raise rates because that is forever into the future, but will they be skimming back the 85 billion in purchases? i don't think there will be any sign that will happen. i think it is helping the economy. connell: you agree with the policy? >> i agree with the policy, but what is propping up the stock market is the better economy. and i cannot attribute that alter the fed. a lot of people don't think the fed is doing very effective, think it works a little, but housing is coming back certain the fed is helping that, jobs, business investment more than just the fed, that is a general improvement in the overall economy, there's no question the fed kept at it.

but there is more to it than just the fed. connell: good enough. thank you for joining us, as always, good to see you. stay tuned for the full coverage and analysis of that decision in the 2:00 hour of "markets now" eastern time today. dagen: the factory in taiwan that produced the see-through yoga pants say there were no manufacturing error. lulu lemon knew exactly what it was getting. connell: a little bit of federal reserve, little bit of see-through yoga pants. cvs telling employees to step on the scale or pay more. dagen: and the creator of "the bible" sitting down with us, mark burnett to talk about it. oil trading today, the stock market up. so is oil. ♪

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connell: carnival can't get out of the headlines matter how hard they try. upgrading the vessels and systems after multiple ships experience problems, well documented by now the most infamous the engine fire aboard triumph leaving passengers stranded for a week. now a fleetwide review, which seems to be a good idea. still determining if more upgrades needed. carnival is up. dagen: more on the saga of the see-through yoga pants. the supplier accused of

manufacturing those pants firing back at the company saying those sheer pants underwent a certification process that was approved by the athletic apparel company. this time around the issue is affecting 17% of the company's bottoms in the stock and there have been a number of quality issues lately with some of the products in the lulu lemon stars including color bleeding, also some problems with color swimwear last year. sharing is another issue. you can see through some of the swimwear. stocks down. let me belabor this. it is not like i a i'm showing u video or anything, demonstrating. connell: it is never the people you want. what do you have, some earnings for us, nicole?

nicole: very good point. a look at some of the names on the move, adobe systems is up 4.25%. they had other than expected results in the second quarter, they upped the forecast as well. very winner up four and a quarter percent. also a look at fedex, they are having to cut their full-year view and also cutting capacity to and from asia with ups down in sympathy. fedex down 5.5%. adobe at new highs, fedex is struggling. i have to tell you one more thing, "after the bell," we will have oracle. connell: this company received nearly $200 million loan from

the energy department hasn't provided any jobs yet and now laying off workers, so dan springer will come on and tell us what the latest is. dagen: here in the studio, mark burnett fro, executive pror of the hit miniseries "the bible." we will talk to him about satan, any resemblance to the president of the united states. we'll talk about world currencies and how they're holding up against the dollar today. i'm a conservative investor. but that doesn't mean i don't want to make money. i love making money. i try to be smart with my investments.

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>> 22 minutes past the hour, this is your fox news minute. in jerusalem president obama says u.s. will stand by israel as its strongest ally and greatest friend. the president meeting with israeli leaders in the first trip to israel since taking office. stops in the west bank and jordan are scheduled during the three-day middle east trip. in south korea, computer networks shut down simultaneously at banks and major television broadcasters. the cause isn't known immediately situation turned to a possible cyber attack from north korea. police in south korea officials

are investigating. a manhunt is underway for a gunman shot and killed the head of the powel palo alto head of corrections. he led the state prison system for two years after 31 years working in the department of corrections. those are your news headlines and the fox business network, now back to dagen and connell with see-through yoga pants. connell: here we go. dagen: after receiving a loan for the federal government, solar panel company was said to have jobs, but they have yet to materialize. connell: dan springer live in seattle with the latest. >dagen: right now does not look good for solo power. taxpayer money is certainly at

risk. we reported on the company before, six months ago we tended a ribbon cutting ceremony in oregon as solopower began producing thin film solar panels. the company was riding high with $58 million in loans and tax breaks from the city and state and a $197 million federal loan guarantee from the exact same department of energy programs that blew more than a half a billion dollars on solon dropped when it went belly up. the first production line never got finished. the ceo and other executives are gone. critics are not surprised. >> eventually the money runs out in these programs go with them. >> the culprits competition from china and will panel prices have taken down many u.s. solar companies. connell: dan springer from

seattle. dagen: cvs employees told to step up on the scale or pay more for their health care. connell: judge andrew napolitano coming up. i'm sure he will have a lot to say about this. let's first look at the winners today on the s&p 500. adobe systems doing well. family dollar. a pretty good day. all that, mark burnett and a lot more on "markets now." keep it here.

connell: it is said to date, they will be meeting to decide whether or not to keep pumping money into the economy and we will get the decision later talk about it coming up in the executive producer of the bible talking about the huge ratings success, big moneymaker and a mini-series that has a lot of controversy surrounding it. and the judge, andrew napolitano on the cb cvs story. way in or pay more for their health care. see how the judge weighs in on that or what he thinks about that. dagen: come on, you have the "the bible" controversy, the judge, health care, stocks and interest rates. i get fired up by some interest

rates. connell: unfortunately you do. nicole with the stock now. nicole: the tao intraday highs. first blackberry formerly known as research in motion doing very well. this is on a morgan stanley upgraded. $15.75, up 4.82%, now overweight from an underweight. at $15.77, search by some upside potential on this one. some people have written off blackberry but don't forget they recently got 1 million units order. that is a big deal for the blackberry 10. the stock has jumped. i continue to stick with the oldest library of all time, but obviously it is still a hot commodity and people are buying up the new blackberries. the major market averages today,

plenty of green on the screen. 29 of the 30 dow components in the green hitting all new record highs of a trading as high as 15,545. back to you. dagen: make the american people worry about the deficit, worry about how much the government is spending because if you look at interest rates and what it cost uncle sam to borrow right now, there is no worry, 1.94% at how much it cost every year to borrow over 10 years. where do interest rates go? kevin, again, what in the near term will send interest rates significantly higher? speak i cannot get past you being fired up on interest rates. dagen: i'm a huge nerd, love

talking about interest rates and bond strategies, so have at it. >> i'm not looking for any bear market in bonds, but a different sense here. the market little bit more immune to the risks, the response we saw in cyprus, they're just not as severe as we saw the last couple of years and as we move forward i wouldn't be surprised to see the 10-year yield creep up from where we have been. dagen: say a severe reaction in the market, risk off trade would have been what on the 10-year yield? how far would have gone a year ago? >> after the greek elections you have a blowout in the spanish bond market, dropping to 125. dagen: in terms of cyprus, that situation is not resolved the parliament voting down that haircut europe was demanding on those deposits, but why is that

risk not worth worrying about? >> i think the risk is worth worrying about. things the ecb has put in place going forward. if we were to escalate to the point cyprus would leave the monetary union, that is something but a plan b. in the works so we will wait and see. dagen: if interest rates go up even as much as you are talking about, is that a headwind for the stock market, you think, with the rally we have seen in the last couple of weeks? >> i am a bond guy, have to be careful talking about stocks. we are not looking for that kind of an increase in rates, maybe 240 on the 10-year period that is not a headwind for the economy. dagen: what do you see, or do you see a change in attitude among investors, greater

willingness to own stocks at this point and maybe some worry about owning fixed income? >> they came out in elevated and equities over fixed income. strategically speaking that is the way we are supposed to go in this environment. investors are tired of earning zero in cash, trying to find that balance between zero and too far out on the yield curve. dagen: corporate bonds, even busier in high yield, what looks overvalued to you, what concerns you? >> what we have done is reached for yields. moving down on the credit curve, both are exhausted, so high yield has been the best performer this year, but we're due for a correction that looks vulnerable to me right now. dagen: thank you very much. be well.

connell: this story of getting laid or having to pay cvs force them to get health screenings or pay more in health insurance. dagen: and talk about earnings. take a look at that, the federal reserve decision this afternoon, that will be your indicator of the stock market. ♪ [ male announcer ] how could switchgrass in argentina, change engineering in dubai, aluminum production in south africa, and the aerospace industry in the u.s.? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy.

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lori: i am lori rothman with your fox business rates. india is looking for cash comp for the grounding of the 77 dreamliner. air india looking for a payout for discounts on future purchases. investors are bearish for catholic say at the company announced the global retail machine sales dropped 13% during the three months ending in february. o. the largest construction shipment maker. wal-mart expanding the pilot program, the service is currently in.

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only flood insurance covers floods. ♪ visit floodsmart.gov/pretend to learn your risk. connell: we hit an all-time high for the dow jones industrial average a little earlier. within the last hour. a little bit late in the last hour. still up 65 points. a very good day for stocks so far. the big thing for the stock market is the federal reserve decision and more importantly the commentary. "markets now" will have full coverage of that in the 2:00 eastern time. dagen: keep an eye on the 10-year treasury yields. connell: so this story we have talked about this cvs story a couple times.

it is interesting on a number of different levels, have to weigh in or pay more. that is what cvs is saying the 200,000 employees. dagen: they had to submit their weight, body fat levels, glucose and other vital statistics about how much they weigh or pay a $50 monthly fine. judge napolitano thinks what about this? >> if the employees are governed by contract, a written contract probably only the senior executives do, the contract with state what information a corporatioinformation thecorpore employee voluntarily or involuntarily. let's assume they don't have a contract, which is probably the case. then the corporation can ask for any information that it is entitled to know in order to more efficiently operate its business. it can make decisions on at will

basis because it likes people or doesn't like people. they can't make a decision based on race or gender or sexual orientation or religion or national origin. but it can say for example we will operate this company more efficiently and give the shareholders a greater return on equity if we hire people within this range off, fill in the blanks, for blood pressure and weight because we are now forced to provide you with out care, this is i a more efficient class of people for whom to provide health care. can they do that, yes. dagen: don't you think they are asking for the ire of people around the country and accusations of discrimination in some way? >> not all discrimination is prohibited by law. the only discrimination is the basis by which we talked about. and we know those, gender, race, age, religion, etc. but on the base of health is not

prohibited by law. with this exception. the americans for disability act prohibits discriminating against someone because they have an articulable disability. a physical disability, emotional or mental disability. high blood pressure or heavyweight is not immeasurable disability. connell: not taking care of yourself is not a disability. >> correct. if you want to put another twist in this. if cvs was the justice department -- department of justice or the state of new jersey, couldn't ask for this information??3 the answer is no because the government has an enforcer and an employer is related by the fourth amendment. private corporations are not regulated by the fourth

amendment so they can ask you private information about yourself which will help them manage the work more efficiently. dagen: what about paying for that? >> i would have to know more about your question. federal funds administered through the state, cvs theoretically has nothing to do with this. once you reach a certain age if you are still employed there, they don't have to cover you. you are asking me if the state of new jersey which now has a blooming responsibility can ask for this information from the people it insures under medicaid? absolutely not. the government can't invade privacy to operate more efficiently. private employers can. connell: will more and more try this? >> put aside the merits of

obamacare, i'm a fierce proponent of it, the promise that everything would get better, it will not come to pass. people are going to be left out in the cold because the burdens of the federal government put on employers are too expensive to meet. we're beginning to see it right before our eyes. ask any one of the 200,000 employees of cvs if they are happy with obamacare. connell: interesting. dagen: always good to see you. connell: let's go back to nicole. she is at the new york stock exchange with stocks now. nicole: worth taking a look, closer look at the dow all-time highs that we are seeing here today. 14,512. i wanted to break down some of the names hitting new highs. i see a mix of upper arrows and down arrows.

they are from different sectors, it is not one sector, it is financials, health care come just to energy, travelers, johnson & johnson, united technologies, chevron and verizon. the first four are actually hitting all-time highs. and in the telecom stocks, verizon slightly red, but today this morning it actually traded to the highest level in more than 11 years, so if you are a verizon shareholders have enjoyed nice dividends, you will be happy to see the stock at an 11 year high. a lot of names on the upside and a broad-based rally underway ahead of the meeting that everybody is looking forward to this afternoon. dagen: thank you, nicole. connell: south koreans claiming they were hacked and a big story especially involving the north koreans as many people speculating.

shibani joshi will report on that coming up next. dagen: more winners today on the nasdaq. today is gonna be an important day for us. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's number two we wanna do? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bout ya, joe? let's go ahead and bring it online. attention on site, attention on site. now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest gas turbines are now powering some of america's biggest cities. siemens. answers.

connell: "markets now," another big day for the stock market. earlier today hitting an intraday all-time high for stocks, so we will see that continues in and through the federal reserve decision on interest rates. the nasdaq composite up by 15 points in the s&p 500 with seven and a half points gain. that is where we're at right

now, we will see this continues late into the afternoon because the fed probably will drive us, we would think. new yorkers making seven figure salaries facing higher taxes. governor cuomo and the state legislature close to extending the 8.8% tax rate on those making more than a million dollars. california and maryland with similar taxes on high income earners. minnesota considering imposing higher tax rates on big earners. something we've talked about in a number of state and now in new york. dagen: i think new yorkers would not be so upset about higher taxes if it felt like they were getting something for their money. particularly in new york city. given the city texas, it is like driving on cobblestones while mayor bloomberg tries to tell us how much s soda we should drink. cutting down on salt. connell: the idea when the tax

rate is going to be prohibited and businesses start leaving. that is quite a big story for the next couple of years when businesses leave states because of taxes. dagen: a lot of these businesses you could easily move them if people telecommute remotely. in new york you are dug in if you're a financial services firm. i was transitioning into the fabulous shibani joshi. new concerns after south korean banks and tv broadcasters fell victim to cyber attacks earlier today. shibani joshi has more on this developing story. >> i caught your segway, i was right with you. another report of another cyber attack thankfully not our own shores, but it shows how dangerous and just how paralyzing cyber attacks can be on an economy and on the nation.

south korean police say several banks and through the nation's top broadcasters were hit by a major cyber attack that paralyze computer networks, cost atms malfunction and even caused tv screens to go blank. today south korean investigators are pointing the fingers at north korea, which is believed to be behind that attack and similar attacks that happened in 2009, and 2011 as well. you may think of this as a faraway sort of experience but we do business and probably have south korean products in our home and use them everyday including products made by samsung, lg. while officials investigate it,t proves how costly cyber crime is. the south korean index is down about 1%, this is shut down in many parts of this nation and something that has really caught the attention of businesses,

government officials, the military, etc. in this nation as well. we are seeing it happen more and more across the entire globe. connell: we're definitely talking about it more and more. i wonder, in south korea, this is not exactly news. it may be the political sensitivity of it happening now with north korea, south korea conflict was back in the news so much. >> they do have and they are happening more and more not just in south korea, but across the world. covering some of the cyber attack issues this nation is tackling, businesses are tackling. it is all about the timing and the sensitivity and how pervasive it was. again, broadcasters, television screens going blank, not a military attack, it was financial institutions, something that was so widely ceased by the public is kind of shook everyone confidence.

you see stuff like this starts to happen for everyday life. i'm not exactly sure, but what i know is investigators are still looking into this, trying to figure out what exactly is going on, but one of the top priorities. connell: shibani joshi, thank you. dagen: tax pain. guess where. california is a big gain for texas. connell: cheryl casone takes us through the next hour of "markets now." one-on-one with the wealthy. keep it here on "markets now." mowing your lawn isn't always easy.

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so for protection you just can't get anywhere else, get lifelock ultimate. >> i didn't know how serious identity theft was until i lost my credit and eventually i lost my home. >> announcer: credit monitoring is not enough, because it tells you after the fact, sometimes as much as 30 ys later. with lifelock, as soon as our network spots a threat to your identity, you'll get a proactive risk alert, protecting you before you become a victim. >> identity tht was a huge, huge problem for me and it's gone away because of lifelock. >> announcer: while no one can stop all identity theft, if criminals do steal your information, lifelock will help fix it, with our $1 million service guarantee. don't wait until you become the next victim. you have so much to protect and nothing to lose when you call lifelock now to get two full months of identity theft protection risk free. that's right, 60 days risk-free. use promo code: gethelp. if you're not completely satisfied, notify lifelock and you won't pay a cent. order now and also get this

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dagen: cheryl will continue her series on taxes this week. cheryl: who cannot love the great state of texas? the lone star state. we will talk about the strategy behind it and why it is actually working. spring for bring them on, baby, bring them on. cheryl: hello, everybody. i am cheryl casone. part three of our week long series. we have a former aide to governor perry. cbs tells employees to get wade or pay more for company

insurance. manny alvarez will be joining me with his take on this story. six figure salaries. elizabeth macdonald is on the case. it is the top of the hour. stocks now with nicole petallides on the floor of the new york stock exchange. it seems like traders are optimistic at what we will hear from the fed this afternoon. nicole: a lot of worries about europe. those words still exist, they just do not seem to be front and center at the moment neared you have a dollar that is weaker and a market that is setting new intraday highs.

it is rod based. retailers, drugs, banks, all higher. most of the dow components are doing very well today. i wanted to note a couple of names on the move. first we will take a look at some dow new highs. chevron has all time highs. i have to move onto caterpillar which is worth there 13 negative dow points. to, you want me to give it to you, weak demand over supply. when you have weak demand and an oversupply, not a good picture

therefore caterpillar today. it is under some pressure. it will weigh on the dow a little bit. cheryl: any negative news for china will weigh on the dow a little bit. thank you. we will see you in 40 minutes from now. a busy day for her. we are now less than two hours away from the latest fed statement. scott martin is with me right now. i want to start with you, scott. you are high on bernanke. what is their take on the economy? what if it is too good? >> i think the market should do what it should do and focus back on fundamentals. i think they will maintain this face of let's keep qe3 going

because that is what the market wants. i am high on bernanke because the markets are high on bernanke. the markets have gone up on all of them. i am looking to see how the fed gauges this economy. if they say, look, we are still going to target 6.5% unemployment. that will stop qe3 as we all know it. cheryl: let's get an economist's perspective in all of this. particularly, what we have had is estimate about gdp going forward. what if they upset, even just slightly? >> while, i think that you have to look at the center. they made up some of the more optimistic forecasts, but we

have a lot of uncertainty here. cheryl: we are talking about the sad. >> i think that there absolutely will be a split. if you go right down the middle of the country and you look at the dow fed, the louis fed, the minneapolis fed, unemployment is low in all of those districts. you have high unemployment on the coast. naturally, they have a more optimistic outlook. they are forecasting the entire economy. when you look at those dates, those are the ones with the more optimistic outlooks. you have the fiscal uncertainties. the fed cannot take that into account in their forecasts. they forecast the economy as it is, not what may happen from the fiscal side.

cheryl: the sequester will be one of the things that can change their gdp projections. i assume that would be to the downside. unemployment, that is also key to market participants. is 6.5% unemployment -- if that threshold comes sooner rather than later, that will be a market negative, i assume. >> i would assume that as well. the labor force participation rate is at a 30 year low. we will get it down to 6.5% by giving more people to drop out of the labor market. if you look at consumer confidence as measured by the university of michigan, that have plummeted this year.

do not forget, guys, the way that that helps out this u.s. government is keeping the rates low. cheryl: what about the homebuilders, scott? homebuilding has been a big part. what do you think we will get today, scott? >> i think bernanke will highlight that. those are the facts. there is still a backlog of foreclosures and sales. you talk to jamie dimon and some of the other bank leaders. the fed is killing the bank model. the banks borrow short and lend long. there is no spread because the earth is so flat. >> my forecast is for the tenure to go up 2.5 at some point this

year. that will help the banks. the fed will acknowledge that housing has improved in the statement today. cheryl: what about inflation. it seems to me, as they go through an economy that is slowly recovering, that there inflation target may be outdated sooner rather than later. that means they will have to backtrack a little bit. inflation will have to creep in at some point. possibly this year. >> you noted earlier the divergence between gdp and unemployment. no matter what, the high and low, all of them have to percent. they are all at the same number. that right there tells you that will probably be wrong. cheryl: they may have gotten it wrong? >> no. i do not think so.

without wage growth, it will be very difficult to get inflation. to have sustainable inflation, you will need wage growth and you will need to see that. you will not see that picking up for a little while. cheryl: i wonder if it will be more short-term. you look at energy in particular. again, that inflation index, will have to jump at some point. i could possibly see it happening this summer. >> it depends on what you find as good. it is a wage growth phenomenon. unless we have higher wages, you will not have higher prices. the cure right now is higher prices because people cannot afford stuff. cheryl: biggest thing you are watching from the announcement

today. >> i think you have to look at the fed forecast. >> i agree with scott. it will be all about the forecast. cheryl: all about the economy we will find out soon enough beard thank you. two pm eastern time today, we will get the fed statement. all of this will be live on market now and going into "countdown to the closing bell," most likely. a fox business exclusive. property taxes continue to rise in states like new york and new jersey. school superintendents are making six figure salaries. elizabeth macdonald has been investigating. she joins me right now.

liz: we found superintendence make more than the governors of those states. here they are. california, ohio, new york state, new jersey, of course. the thing we are looking at very close is four out of ten, you see also nebraska and pennsylvania on here. they make more than 200,000 plus. the average nation wide is 162,000. fifty-three school supers make more than 300,000. the issue is that increasingly superintendents are calling themselves ceos and the school districts are using ceo pay models to pay them their

compensation. they are getting perks like free cars, free cell phones, tuition for their children, things like unused vacation pay. cheryl: anyone paying taxes in this country should be curious. governor christie, on every state of that map that you showed, new jersey seems to be the real story. lots of backlash against him. he was right. look at what is happening. the superintendence in that state. liz: he called their pay basically greedy. he was one of the few states in the country to try to cap superintendence pay. our property taxes and local taxes go to fund their pay. he did cap it at his own salary. watch this, here is what happened, we found dozens of school superintendents retiring

early. doing what is called double dipping. thee get their money early. we saw that in ohio also. cheryl: even governor cuomo said we are in the wrong business. we should have applied for superintendence. thank you so much. interest rates sitting at historic lows. mortgage rates incredibly low. coming up, we will tell you whether you should buy or rent in cities across this country. cvs tells employees to get weighed or pay more for health insurance. fox news health.com manny alvarez is going to be joining me. deep in the heart of texas. no corporate income tax, no state tax, one man behind the

corporate tax for the wealthy is ahead. part three. ♪ (announcer) at scottrade, our clients trade and invest exactly how they want. with scottrade's online banking, i get one view of my bank and brokerage accounts with one login... to easily move my money when i need to. plus, when i call my local scottrade office, i can talk to someone who knows how i trade. because i don't trade like everybi'm with scottrade.e. (announcer) scottrade. awarded five-stars from smartmoney magazine.

cheryl: 15 minutes past the hour. stocks now every 15 minutes. we have phil flynn in the trading pits of the cme. charles payne showing us how to make money with an audio visual flight that you probably know. first to the cole petallides on the new york stock exchange. nicole: we continue to watch for any words from bernanke.

both the nasdaq and s&p gaining about a half of 1%. the dow jones industrials hit an all-time record high again. obviously, a very big deal. we have a broad based rally underway here. many names on the dow and s&p that are hitting 52 week highs. lifetime highs. if you are able out there, you are pretty happy with this action we are seeing on wall street. that is the latest here on the floor of the new york stock exchange. phil flynn, what is going on there in chicago? jeff: optimism about the fed meeting is keeping oil up. everybody thought we would need this crucify of 2 million barrels. forget about it. we actually fell.

normally, when you have a description area like that, you get a big boost out of the market. natural gas, of course, has been the big story for the last five days. if you look at what is happening overseas, they are going up even more. we sell natural gas prices absolutely explode. with russia getting into the mix here and russia not very happy with europe right now, there are concerns that they could cut off supply. back to you, cheryl. cheryl: all of it moving ahead on the decision. thank you very much. it is time to make some money with charles payne. he is bringing profits to your portfolio with polycom. how are you evaluating this.

charles: it looks fantastic. you have a ratio of 13. peg ratio at one. from that traditional valuation, they all look fantastic. i think i am seeing an inflection in the business. the fourth quarter, let's take their business. year-over-year, sequentially, quarter over quarter of 6% up to 5%, up 2%. i like that. quarter over quarter, up 2%, up 19%, all significantly better. i am starting to see a trend here. the volume on the stock the last two sessions have been absolutely phenomenal. it is on track to trade at least 50%. something is going on.

i like the idea of people getting in there. on the upside, significant room. cheryl: i think it looks great. they can still play into that mobile conferencing business. charles: i am glad you said that. they are in the mobile space. you are absolutely right. i think the stock is ready to take off. cheryl: charles payne, thank you very much. ask yourself this question, way cvs is telling employees to submit a health screening or they will have to pay more for their companies health insurance. manny alvarez will be joining me to discuss this. huge tax bill pushing the rich to leave states like california for more tax friendly states like texas. i'll had on part three of our weeklong series.

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>> @24 minutes past the hour, i have your fox news minute. in jerusalem, president obama says we will stand by israel as the most powerful ally. the president spoke about how these meetings would help children in both countries. >> in this work, as the state of israel will have no greater friend than the united states. the work we do will make it more likely that the children we saw today alongside children dropped the region had the opportunity for security and peace and prosperity. >> in south korea, computer networks shut down simultaneously as banks and major television broadcasters are experiencing the same thing. the cause of the cyber crash is not known. speculation turned to a cyber attack from north korea. those are your headlines.

back to cheryl. cheryl: thank you so much. do not mess with those teeny broadcasters. >> no, no, no. [ laughter ] cheryl: a new policy by cvs caremark requires everyone to submit their weight, body fat, glucose levels and other bottles or pay more for health insurance. doctor manny alvarez. love it or hate it? >> hate it. i think this is an invasion of privacy. you have to report for a physical otherwise you will have a surcharge of $50 a month. it is voluntary. in other words, you do not have to do it, but we will charge you $50. this is happening all over the country. cheryl: why not.

companies have to control healthcare costs. >> you do not do that by punishing people and taking money away from their tables. $600 a month is a lot of money. fifty dollars is a gas tank for some people. this is not the way to do it. cheryl: they are dealing with higher costs. the alternative is to not provide health insurance to employees at all. that is where all of this is going. >> i do not have problems with policies limiting the number of procedures that you get. i don't have problems with limiting the number of elective things like plastic surgery. i have no problem with employers harassing people to lose weight and stop smoking. cheryl: diabetes, heart

conditions, that is expensive. >> it will change nothing. people will still have their problems. people will still be overweight. it will not change anything. what happened from two years from now. now i am the owner of this company. i have all of these profiles. i know mary and bob are overweight. do i want to keep them? cheryl: there is a third-party company that will keep the records separate. eventually, this is segregation. this is harassing people. this is punishing people. this is not the way to make people healthy. cheryl: they do not have to participate. >> no, but you have to pay.

it is a different argument. it is not the way to do it. this is an un- organized way and it is a way to cut corners. now they have to provide health insurance for everybody. congratulations. this is the best you got. cheryl: let's have you come back so we can go through solutions. manny, thank you very much. cheaper to buy than rent. we have the numbers ahead if you are in the housing market. are you looking? think about it. huge tax bills pushing people from states like california. part three of our weeklong series. cue the music. ♪ investor. yeah, i'm a serious investor

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cheryl: time for stocks now as they do every 15 minutes. nicole: it really is under some pressure on a day where you are seeing market highs. you will see fedex here under session highs. it is up 6% at the moment. sitting right at $100.04. we are also seeing ups under pressure. they had a worse than expected third-quarter.

also, they said customers shift from air express to slower and cheaper modes. flights to and from asia, that will begin april 1. on a day where we set new highs across the board. cheryl: thank you, nicole. everything is bigger in texas. not the taxes. no corporate or individual income taxes and a franchise tax that tops out at 1%. the great state of texas is definitely attractive. >> building a business is tough, but i hear building a business in california is next to impossible. see why you should come to

texas. cheryl: joining me now is former aide to texas governor, craig casselberry. if the governor's message, is it being effective in texas? >> you know, i think it is. we know our formula here has been for many years. i have been around a long time in this state. i think companies, their employees, families, they like that message. it is working. that is why we lead the company and job creation for the last few years. cheryl: many california companies have left the state of california and got down to texas because the costs of doing business is so much lower. you have that corporate tax, you know, that nugget that really brings people in. if you look at the debt station

in each state, california does not control its debt. what is texas doing that california needs to do? >> we have a balanced budget amendment in our constitution. we cannot spend more than we take in. we are very fiscally conservative as a stay. we do not spend within -- we do not spend beyond our means. cheryl: legalzoom. they left the state of california. they moved down to texas. oracle has expanded. cvs has expanded. ebay, apple, facebook, they have expanded their operations in the state of texas. what are the chances that these companies would leave california

altogether and move to texas? >> it is becoming more and more likely. i think it could very well happen. one thing i will tell you, we want them here. texas hospitality both economic and cultural. governor perry is very effective. he goes and asks for the business. i think that makes a difference. cheryl: governor perry has been very act if in the median household income of texas. if you look at that, it is 48,000. you would think california is higher. income in taxes for workers are actually higher. why is that bush and mark what has texas done? >> i think we don't have the costs associated.

we have a very moderate company corporate tax. we have a very affordable real estate. i think we make it relative. it is a big win for texas. we have done a good job of telling that story. you can almost double your money if you come from california to texas. cheryl: that will make april 15 a lot healthier and happier for many. governor perry launched this huge ad campaign in california. at the same time, he reached out on twitter to phil mickelson. texas is home to liberty and low taxes. we would love to have you over here. >> we do have about 320 days of good golf weather.

i think it makes perfect sense. [ laughter ] >> it is pretty amazing. talk about return on investment. it is a pretty good roi. it is becoming, it is coming to a head here. there is a tipping point. enough is almost enough. cheryl: we would love to have governor perry on the show. craig casselberry. thank you. cheryl: the flipside. california democratic congressman will join us with what the golden state is doing to keep residents from leaving and going to texas and other states. he is also a small business owner. he is a good friend of the show. the housing market.

you cannot afford to miss our next guest on why buying may be a better option than renting. get out your pencils. hawaii, they want travel sites to pay money in back taxes. that story is coming up in your west coast minute. all about the treasury market. the yield is at 1.94%. the morning for treasuries. ♪ before copd... i took my son fishing every year.

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>> i am lauren simonetti with your fox business brief. jpmorgan chase has returned to return money to former customers of mf global. it retained claims that some of the collateral. walmart is expanding its scan and copilot program tripling the amount of stores the service is currently in. you can scan items with your iphone and pay at a self checkout. a collection of princess diana's most expensive evening gowns. that is the latest from fox

business. giving you the power to prosper. ♪ today is gonna be an important day for us. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's number two we wanna do? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bout ya, joe? let's go ahead and bring it online. attention on site, attention on site. now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest gas turbines are now powering some of america's biggest cities. siemens. answers.

cheryl: to rent or to buy? that is the question when it comes to your new home. >> you look at that data across the whole u.s. and naturally it is now 44% cheaper to buy than to rent. it is cheaper than all of the 100 largest metros across the country. >> even san francisco. and even in new york. cheryl: i am assuming a big piece of this is interest rates. we have historic low interest rates. that will not last very long. for those viewers that are paying attention, do they need to act quickly?

>> mortgage rates are a big factor. they are still near historic lows. even if rates go as well as 5.5, it would still be 33% cheaper to buy than to rent. prices have gone up. cheryl: it is not just the mortgage rate. you have to itemize your deductions on your tax return to take advantage of homeowning. if you are going around and flipping, it may not make sense with all the closing costs and that; correct? >> it may not make sense to buy if you are only going to be there for three years. you get fewer years of price appreciation. cheryl: one of the things you did and you do this survey a lot

, i would look at it and i think it is really fascinating. the city where it was definitely the best dubai was detroit, michigan. there was a 70% difference in renting versus buying in detroit, michigan. >> that is a very high number. it is a very big gap. it is such a big gap between what it cost to buy versus rent in detroit. part of that is home price expectations are lower in many parts of the midwest and in california or new york. that keeps prices down. cheryl: one of the things that has been so fascinating is that inventory is so incredibly low. that is driving prices higher. what about next spring? will they miss?

>> a year from now, inventories will probably be even tighter than they are today. prices should rise more than red. buying will look like a better deal today then it will a year from now. cheryl: interesting. great hearing from you. >> thank you very much. cheryl: quarter till. time for stocks now. we are taking a look at some of these airlines. they are on the move. many of them are hitting multi- year highs. use the delta and u.s. airways gaining more than 2%. we are seeing some of these with new annual highs. we are seeing those names hitting new annual highs. certainly, another thing when you talk about the airline

industry, they themselves are predicting a better year. they are expecting a profit to rise over $10.5 billion. one of the reasons for this is simply more passengers. another would be more cargo that they handled. the big picture is the airline industry is expecting a better 2013. back to you. cheryl: thank you, nicole. time for your west coast minute. several internet travel sites are being told to pay up to the state of hawaii. orbitz, priceline, travelocity and expedia all have to fork over a combined $70 million penalty. going forward, hawaii officials are expected to collect 20 million a year in tax revenue.

los angeles officials are looking to illuminate the reliance on coal power. the city moved ahead with plans to deduct interest in coal burning plants in arizona and utah that provides 40% of the state's energy. also in the golden state, a major copper heist to tell you about. according to the oakland tribune, a thief stole a forklift, drove through a fence and took 5600 pounds of copper wire. take a look at the copper contract. this has been happening throughout the recession. that is your west coast minute. the business of diplomacy. president obama is in israel. we will be live in jerusalem next for you. we want to take a look at some of those winners over on the

nasdaq. the fed announcement is in an hour and ten minutes from now. we will be right back. ♪ ♪ [ cows moo ] [ sizzling ] more rain... [ thunder rumbles ] ♪ [ male announcer ] when the world moves... futures move first. learn futures from experienced pros with dedicated chats and daily live webinars. and trade with papermoney to test-drive the market. ♪ all on thinkorswim. from td ameritrade.

cheryl: that was president obama this morning taking a break from washington for his first visit to israel. >> cheryl, often times world leaders have to make up.

this is the hug and make a trip between president obama and that in -- they were all smiles. they were congratulating each other. he went out of his way to thank president obama will double times. for president obama, though, this is a little bit of a trip to try to harden up his image. >> the united states of america stands with the state of israel

because it is in our security interest. it makes us both stronger. it makes us both a more prosperous it makes the world a better place. >> at the end of their rope marks, the president and the prime minister went on a two or of israel's iron dome. it is one of the things that president obama often points to that he has really gotten behind. currently, his likability and israel is right around 10%. he will talk to the entire country on thursday. that is time for him to start selling himself a little bit more to the israeli people. cheryl: thank you very much.

we are looking at the market right now. the dow up to two points. bernanke keeping the tabs open. keep that money going. how often can he keep pumping money into this economy? fedex big story today. customers are spending less on shipping and the cheap route is costing the company. plus, we will have more on the cyprus brett. that story developing today. melissa and lori will have all of that coming up as market now continues. ♪ with scottrade's online banking, i get one view of my bank and brokerage accounts with one login... to easily move my money when i need to. plus, when i call my local scottrade office, i can talk to someone who knows how i trade.

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